Natural rubber production down 25 pc in Sept at 60,000 tonnes

Natural rubber production fell by 25 per cent during last month to 60,000 tonnes, according to data released by Rubber Board today.
The consumption, however, increased to 85,500 tonnes in September from 80,550 tonnes in the year-ago period.
"Production of NR (natural rubber) decreased by 25 per cent to 60,000 tonnes during September 2014 from 80,000 tonnes during September 2013," Rubber Board said in a statement.
Import of natural rubber fell to 41,848 tonnes last month from 47,899 tonnes in the same month last year, while exports declined to 8 tonnes from 1,098 tonnes during the period under review.
During the first six months of this fiscal, natural rubber production declined by 2.3 per cent to 3.37 lakh tonnes from 3.45 lakh tonnes in the corresponding period of the previous year.

However, consumption grew by 3.6 per cent to 5.09 lakh tonnes during April-September 2014 from 4.91 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period.
Imports of natural rubber in the first half of this fiscal also rose to 2.25 lakh tonnes from 1.81 lakh tonnes in the same period of previous year.
Exports were down to 163 tonnes from 3,495 tonnes during the period under review.